George Herbert chose at Cambridge to devote his poetry to
God and seemed to adjust easily to a religious life after leaving a court life. His
poetry expresses the notion that one feels God's presence or one doesn't, propounding
the theologically arguable concept that one cannot reason with God. His poetry is an
extension of his sermons and seeks to instruct by example rather than by precept. He
writes about his personal struggles in order that others may follow his example and thus
overcome their struggles. His struggles are not on the same order of Donne's, his fellow
religious poet, however, being less desperate and less
personal.
Herbert's approach to poetry writing is a more
commonplace approach than an intellectual one. He uses common everyday domestic
metaphors and imagery along with conceits (elaborate, intellectually original metaphors,
short or extended), which are important in his poetry. The questions that Herbert
explores, which constitute an extension to his sermons, are often resolved with a device
he innovated: two quiet lines that convey a resolution founded in emotion and that may
or may not answer the question(s) raised in the poem. The function of extending his
sermons determines the his poetic style, in large part.
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